- La Verde returns 398m at 0.45% CuEq from surface, including 62m at 0.91% CuEq
- Shallow results support the concept of a potential higher-grade starter pit
- Maiden La Verde resource is targeted ahead of a revised Costa Fuego PFS
Special Report: Hot Chili’s continued high-grade copper-gold hits at La Verde are feeding into a maiden resource and strengthening the case for a potential high-grade starter pit as part of the broader Costa Fuego project.
The latest round of reverse circulation drill assays at the discovery in Chile returned a top result of 398m grading 0.45% copper equivalent from surface that includes a higher-grade interval of 62m at 0.91% CuEq from a down-hole depth of 20m in hole DKP063.
Other holes also returned thick intervals of near-surface mineralisation such as:
- 132m at 0.57% CuEq from 24m including 42m at 0.7% CuEq from 96m (DKP075); and
- 126m at 0.45% CuEq from 54m including 26m at 0.7% CuEq from 108m (DKP064).
Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) notes the three holes targeted updip extensions of high-grade mineralisation across the deposit, highlighting the scale and continuity of La Verde’s growing high-grade core.
“DKP063 is among the strongest near-surface intersections we have drilled at La Verde so far,” HCH managing director Christian Easterday said.
“With comparable grades now appearing across the deposit, we have confidence in the scale of a potential high-grade starter pit for Costa Fuego.”
A new lever for Costa Fuego
La Verde sits about 30km south of Costa Fuego’s planned central processing hub.
Its proximity to the flagship project means that it is being assessed as a potential new source of feed.
Costa Fuego already hosts 798Mt of indicated resources at 0.45% CuEq, and a further 203Mt inferred at 0.31% CuEq across Cortadera, Productora, Alice and San Antonio.
A 2025 pre-feasibility study outlined a 20-year project with a post-tax NPV8 of US$1.2bn, 19% post-tax IRR, US$1.27bn start-up capital and a 4.5-year payback, using assumed long-term prices of US$4.30/lb copper and US$2,280/oz gold.
Primary production over the first 14 years is expected to average 116,000tpa CuEq, including 95,000tpa copper and 48,000ozpa gold.
If its shallow, higher-grade mineralisation can be converted into a maiden resource, and subsequent mining studies support early extraction, La Verde could give Hot Chili another option for front-end mine sequencing and higher-grade early feed.
“With assays from 22 holes still to come, our focus is on converting this drilling into a maiden Mineral Resource and, from there, integrating this into an enhanced and upscaled Costa Fuego Prefeasibility study,” Easterday said.
